Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

Not a lot, surprisingly, happened over the next two days. To Kana, that was both good and bad news. The fact that Sanada had been accepted as dead without any complications meant she had gotten away with it. Wherever she was now, she had probably started to settle in. On the other hand, the situation with Emi had not changed even a bit. She still refused to talk to Kana in a casual way.

It was further worsened by the longer practice sessions. Since their performance was just a few days ago, and they had lost a member, a lot of changes had to be made. A benefit was that they didn’t need to worry about the competition, so they could dedicate all of their hours to this. And that was precisely what Sakai asked them to do. From morning to late in the night, they danced, danced, and then danced some more.

Saturday night, once Kana and Jina returned home, there was barely any time to breathe. Jina had already been fairly quiet recently, owing to the embarrassment she still carried from Wednesday, so she retired to her room without a word.

Kana knew very well that tomorrow would be hectic. They had to practice once more early in the morning, and then somehow be ready for the show in the evening. It would be a hell of a time, quite literally. So, when she got into bed and her phone started ringing, her first instinct was to ignore it.

Burying her face under her pillow, she sighed, hoping it wasn’t Sakai or someone else important. Yamazaki had claimed that they were done for the night, so at least she had good reason to be ignoring it. Thankfully, the ringing stopped after some time. Faster than normal, in fact. As if the other person had cut the call from their side.

Kana turned her body around, wondering if she should check. The faint glow of the notification hung above the phone, calling to her. Her hand reached out as she yawned. Then, right as it was about to reach, the ringing started once more. She could swear that it was louder than before. Scrambling to pick it up before Jina started complaining, she grabbed her phone and brought it up.

Keiko.

Why now? A video call, too.

She didn’t need to think twice about it. She could sleep in late and apologize later. Picking up the call, Kana put her head down on the pillow, smiling.

Keiko’s camera opened with complete darkness. Kana waited for some time, hoping that she would come into focus. But that didn’t happen. The only sign of movement on the other side was the audio. Just barely, Kana could make out the rustling of her blanket.

“Uh…”

“Ah, ah…!” Keiko stuttered, “I…I’m here. Right here.”

From the corner of the screen, her hand appeared. She waved at the camera and then pulled it back out.

“What happened?” Kana asked, “Are you alright?”

“That’s, uh…” Her sister sniffled, “relative, isn’t it? What does it mean to be alright?”

“I really appreciate that you are in a proper late-night philosophizing mood, but I’ve got a busy day tomorrow. Just get to it?”

“Ah, yes. You have the concert, don’t you!? I tried to get tickets, but they’re really, really expensive. I couldn’t get them at all! Plus, there’s people saying that there are rumors it won’t happen. That you’re going through some issues internally. Is that true!? Are you alright?”

Kana groaned, “Yeah, nice of you to be concerned. We’re fine. That’s not what I picked the call up for. Tell me what happened.”

“It’s really, really, really not that important. It’s ok. I’ll go now. Good night!”

Her hand appeared on the screen, reaching for the end call button. Unfortunately, since she did not want to look at the screen, she wasn’t able to hit it. Her index finger tapped multiple times, but she did not leave the call. The only thing she was leaving were fingerprints on her screen.

“A little bit to the left. Also, down. Very much down. You’re somewhere in the middle of the screen right now.”

“Hauh!?” She cried, “Stop that. Don’t tell me what to do. Your job is to keep asking me what happened, and beg me not to end the call. Don’t try to speed up the process!”

“Yeah, but that’s clearly what you wanted, and I’m really sleepy. So, you know, might as well get done with it if you’re not interested.”

“No, no, no!”

The hand wrapped around the screen, and Keiko pulled it up. Bringing herself into the lens, she revealed just why she hadn’t wanted to do that. Her hair was a dry mess, her eyes were puffed up and red, and her mouth was locked into a frown. She wiped her face once before shaking her head.

“Don’t go.”

Once Keiko whispered that, Kana felt a sense of peace. Placing her phone against a pillow, she yawned and lay down in a more comfortable position. She looked into the camera, hopefully making her stupid sister feel like she was being seen.

“Go on.”

“You…” she trembled, unable to find her words, “How did you and, uh, Emi-chan. Was that her name? How did you break up?”

“Oh. We’re back together, though?”

“Huh!? Alright, my bad. I’ll go now. You’re clearly the wrong person for the job.”

“Why? I thought you were…averse to love? Pretty sure those were your exact words. You might have learned that word in class that day. Finally got a girl, did you?”

“G-guy!” She almost screamed, then looked up to make sure their mother hadn’t heard, “Not everyone in the universe needs to be into girls, you know? And anyway, I, uh…am still the same. At least now, I guess. Actually, no. I think I slipped up for some time, but then I am sure that I was actually right the first time around.”

“Either you are drunk, which would be concerning, or I am a bit too sleepy. That would be…expected. What do you even mean?”

“It means that I totally believed that I was averse to love, but then, for some reason, I slipped up and formed a hole in that belief. Now that I think about it, though, I am pretty sure I was right in the first place. So, no, I still believe in the same thing. Your question is not important.”

As much as she understood what was going on almost instantly, Kana also felt like frowning. It wasn’t something she could just laugh at, but it was also such a small issue to her that it felt disrespectful. Kana had to memorize a whole dance by tomorrow and then perform in the evening. Yet here Keiko was. Here for such a simple reason.

“You mean you got rejected.”

“Huh!? No. I, uh, I…you see? Yes. I actually…”

“You got rejected.”

“Nope! I am averse to love, so how could I ge-”

“You got rejected.”

“I got rejected.”

Keiko looked away from the screen, far into the distance of her small room’s walls. Drifting off into her thoughts, probably recalling the events of the day, she started mumbling. No voice left her, but the movement of her lips was defined.

“How long had you known him? Or well, how long were you friends?”

“Uh…ten months.”

“Ten mo…” Kana’s face dropped, “What the hell is wrong with you? If you love him, then say it. What are you waiting ten months for? What did you even do those ten months? Sit there and talk? That’s it?”

“I was waiting for him to say it. I mean, it was pretty obvious that he loved me, too, and everyone thought the same thing. So, you know, it was only right for him to go first.”

“Yeah, but clearly, he didn’t. What now? You can still say that he should have gone first, when you know that he didn’t love you back, can you?”

“Y-yeah.”

Kana put the phone down, screen facing the bed. Looking up at the ceiling, she wondered where she had gone wrong. If she had paid more attention to this girl, would today not have happened? Would she not have, hopefully, gotten such a braindead answer? Maybe she could just go to sleep right now and leave her to herself.

“K-kana? Hello? Heeeelllooo? Good morning!”

Close your eyes, then your ears. She would eventually stop trying. There was nothing that the power of ignorance could not solve, after all. Right now, Kana could swear that Kelsey was probably smarter than Keiko. It did not make her proud to say that, but it was the truth. The truth could not be denied.

“Stop it. Pick the phone up. How am I in the wrong here? Do you just leave your friend group and take walks every day in the park with just anyone? Huh!? Tell me, is that normal? He’s got to be lying. Liar, liar. He was lying about not loving me back. Right? Right?!”

Taking a walk in a park was probably the most normal, public thing a human being could do. Now, if she had brought up something really incriminating, it would have been worth giving it a try. If the guy had, for example, willingly gone on multiple ‘outings’ with her all alone. If they had shopped together, or dined together, or tried their best to be physically close. And…Kana could not convince herself.

Even those options were mostly friendly, weren’t they? What separated them from dates, anyway? Emi had just been so good that Kana had never had another girlfriend. How was she supposed to answer something like this?”

“Wahhh! Alright, fine. It was my fault, alright? I should have made it more obvious that I was in love with him, so that he could have brought it up earlier. It was entirely my mistake!”

“Your mistake!?”

Kana picked the phone up in anger, screaming.

“Your mistake?! Really? Have you finally come to realize that? And clearly, it is still not enough. You are still barking up the wrong tree. If you aren’t sure if someone else is into you or not, then just ask them. Ask them, and that will clarify your doubts, won’t it? What would it cost, at most? A few days of awkwardness, right? What are you so afrai-”

A loud knock on her door caused her attention to snap

“Shut the fuck up!”

Jina shouted from the other side before pattering away.

“Who was that!?” Keiko asked, whispering as if she were the one who had been screamed at.

“Never mind that. That’s hardly important.” Kana whispered back, “We need to clear this out first, incompetent sister of mine. How are you the same blood? How can you ask a question like the meaning of being alright, and then tell me this story in the same breath? I can’t belie-”

_____________

By the time the sun set the next day, Kana wasn’t sure what she wanted to do.

One half of her mind wanted to half-ass this performance. She wasn’t a huge fan of dancing, even if she knew she could dance well. It just didn’t scratch the same itch as singing or planning a company’s downfall.

Dressed in her final performance clothes, she had just finished a final rehearsal with Jina and Kelsey. The two of them had also taken their seats and were staring into the mirror. The former was still angry about last night, which had certainly flipped their behavioral roles. The latter was…Kelsey.

On that girl’s mirror were small photos. One of RiRi, and one of Sanada. Instead of looking at herself, she was looking at them as she whispered something. Then, closing her eyes, she buried her face in her hands and took a deep breath.

“Either of you mess this up, and I will kill you.”

Jina looked at her with a sour expression, “Where did that come from?”

Kelsey stood up, taking a sip of water, “Drink, but don’t drink too much. Stare into the light for some time. It will help you prepare for the stage. Someone will hand you an earpiece, in which the song will be played at the same time as the stage. Keep up with that, and ignore the cheers. Got it?”

“We were, in fact, taught all of that. Thank you either way, I guess?”

“I am not in the mood to fight you, Minami. You’re not going to break me. Not anymore. I’m here for one reason, and one reason only. You can try to destroy Pink Beats as much as possible, but I’ll keep it alive as long as I am here. I’m not going anywhere. So, you two had better keep up.”

“Is that a challenge?” Kana scoffed.

“A warning.” She clarified with a threatening look, “Do not mess up. Let me handle breaking the news about RiRi and Sanada. I’ll do it after the performance, so that the energy is not down. When I introduce you, just bow and wave. Say a few lines about how excited you are. That’s it.”

Jina drank some water too, slapping her cheeks, “Got it. I’ll stop it for today, then. We’re in this together, ri-”

“Kana Minami.” Kelsey stepped forward, looking down at her, “You thought you were better than us, didn’t you? This is your one chance. Just one. You impress me, and I’ll shut up forever. I’ll agree to your greatness and do whatever you want. Give me just one reason to think you’re inferior to Pink Beats, and…”

Sighing, she walked back to her mirror. The door to the green room opened, and a man looked inside. Asking them to be ready in five minutes, he left. Kelsey kissed her hand and put them on RiRi’s photo. Her eyes, trying their hardest not to drown her face, carried a quiet yet violent flame.

“Watch me, RiRi. I’ll make you proud.”

With that, she turned to leave the room. Kana looked at the photo and closed her eyes. She knew her prayers would mean nothing to the former leader of Pink Beats, but she said one either way.

She didn’t really want to try very hard on this, but maybe it wouldn’t hurt to go all out. Not just as repayment, but as a declaration. Kana was meant to surpass them, and she knew it. Now, she just needed to show the world.